reasons to smile
by riouu
Summary: Shirou found that there were always things to smile about when you had children and that special someone you loved dearly. Oneshot, complete.


**Title: **reasons to smile

**Author:** riou.

**Length:** 1073 words.

**Pairing: **Fujimoto Shirou/Mephisto Pheles.

**Warnings: **None. A small kiss.

**Summary:** Shirou found that there were always things to smile about when you had children and that special someone you loved dearly. Oneshot, complete.

**Written:** 11th July 2011.

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><p><strong>reasons to smile;<strong>

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><p>It was Rin who noticed it first. The sky above was thick with clouds, grey and cold, and from those clouds he watched a few white flakes descend - and then more, and then the sky was suddenly full of them.<p>

"Snow!" he cried out, awe-struck, before he proceeded to rush about the house yelling at the top of his voice, over and over, "_There's snow, there's snow_!"

Of course, Shirou would be cruel not to let the young children out to play so after dinner, when a large amount of white fluff now blanketed the streets and the area safe within the walls of the abbey, Rin and Yukio stuffed themselves into their winter coats and ran out shrieking into the snow. Intent on both having fun and on keeping a good eye on them both, Shirou followed, his cassock not nearly enough to stave off the chill. His own coat had been burned though (accidentally) so for the moment he put up with it, and made a mental note to buy a new jacket tomorrow. Winter was close, after all.

For a while he played with the children, engaging in a two-on-one snowball fight - which he ultimately lost - and helping with the construction of a snowman. During times like this, he was honestly glad he had been the one chosen to look after Rin and Yukio after their mother's death; their innocent laughter and excited glee over the smallest things, such as catching snowflakes on their tongues, warmed his heart and made him smile in a way he wasn't sure he could live without experiencing any more. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be a parent.

Rin mentioned something about getting a nose and eyes for the snowman and ran into the house with his little brother, leaving Shirou to smooth the snowman's head out into a more rounded shape and make sure it was secured on the larger sphere that made up its body. He had the feeling he was being watched, then, and glanced up in curiosity. Stood at the gate was an unmistakably familiar figure, his cape a whirl of white on the icy wind.

"Mephisto!"

Mephisto grinned at him, raising a hand in both greeting and response as Shirou ran over. "You seem to be enjoying yourself," the demon said, his bright gaze straying from the man's face to the half-finished snowman, and then to the open door Rin and Yukio had disappeared through a few moments ago. Shirou scratched the back of his neck and laughed.

"I can't help it - it's the kids, they drag you into it, you know?"

Though Mephisto's smile was still present, he looked almost concerned for a moment as he surveyed the priest up and down once. Absently he reached to brush snow off the man's shoulders with gloved hands.

"It's cold though, isn't it? Won't you get ill?"

It was unusual for the demon to be worrying about something like that; to have realised that the current weather might be detrimental to his human friend's general health, even. Despite trying his best to conceal it, Shirou was sure Mephisto caught sight of his pleased expression, for he frowned and then his cheeks turned slightly pink, and he smacked Shirou lightly on the shoulder.

"Just…make sure you don't come down with anything. It'd be_ terrible_if my best Exorcist fell ill." He paused. "Besides," he added, in a softer voice that betrayed when he was teasing and when he actually meant what he said, "the children would worry if they found their father in bed all snotty and sniffly and stuff in the morning. It's not the most handsome sight, I tell you."

Shirou gave him a gentle smile. "I'll be fine. You can join in too if you want, by the way. It's been a while since you've been round and any hands are good hands when it comes to building snowmen," he offered.

"I'm afraid I must decline, Shirou. I have somewhere I should be - I only stopped here because it was en route."

"You work too much."

"Someone has to. What with you busy raising kids, I have to do so much more by myself!" Mephisto poked him in the nose like one would a child before he glanced off sharply to the left; mimicking the action, Shirou came to notice that Rin and Yukio had emerged from the house, their arms full of coal, a carrot, a hat and a pair of old worker's gloves. Mephisto waved to them both and smiled.

"Dad! He needs arms! Hi Mephi!"

"Ah, gimme a minute-!" Shirou was cut off as Mephisto pushed at him a couple of times, urging him to return to the boys.

"It's fine. Go, go, go, you don't want to keep them waiting," he said, turning away, and Shirou almost thought he was planning to leave without any goodbye at all when the demon paused in his steps. "Oh, wait just a second. I almost forgot why I actually came here," murmured Mephisto, digging through his bag a bit though his movements and what he was searching for were half-hidden from Shirou's view due to his cape.

"Hm?"

"It's just- it's nothing much. I remember you said you'd lost your old one, is all." Mephisto was blushing again, he saw, when he turned back around - but if he mentioned it, the man would only shrug it off as being a reaction to the cold. In his hands he held a thick, white scarf, which he clutched at for a moment before reaching up to wrap it round Shirou's neck instead. "It's cold, and winter is coming," he told him quietly, his voice merely a breath on the wind, "so you have to wrap up."

He tugged lightly on both ends of the scarf then, pulling the priest close enough that they could share a small kiss; their first in a while, and it was a nostalgic feeling on Shirou's lips. It felt like summer again, just for a second.

"…I'm going to be late for this damn meeting now. Enjoy your night!" Mephisto swept away and cast only a quick glance over his shoulder, his face a deeper shade of red than any cold weather could be blamed for causing. He was gone before Shirou could catch his breath and actually thank him for the present, but he supposed the huge smile on his face was more than enough for the demon for the moment. He'd phone him later, he decided, and walked back toward the snowman and his patiently waiting children.

There were always reasons to smile these days.

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><p><strong>end.<strong>

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><p>Good afternoon! This is <strong>riou<strong>, returning with another fan fiction featuring these two wonderful characters, and thankfully this time around it is a far less depressing story. Shirou and Mephisto are kind of my absolute favourite pairing in this series, okay. Shirou is an adorable father, aha.

I was procrastinating on other things when I wrote this; an idea came to me while I was trying to work out what to do in the other story and I opened up a new document, and this happened. It was mostly inspired by that one scene in the anime's second ending theme, I think (I love the new opening and ending songs, also, though I still adore the first ones as well - in general, I just like music).

And now it's time for me to go again, because apparently it is only mid-afternoon even though it feels a lot later than that for some reason, and I have a lot more writing to do. If you read this, short and possibly insubstantial as it is, I thank you graciously.


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